Material loading device



March 20, 1956 HOWARD MATERIAL LOADING DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 1, 1953 INVENTOR Thomas E. Howard BY flfl Lg ATTORNEY March 1956 T. E. HOWARD MATERIAL LOADING DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 1, 1953 INVENTOR. Thomas E. Howard 2/Z ATTORNEY MATERIAL LOADING DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed May 1, 1955 INVENTOR. Thomas E. Howard ATTORNEY United States 2,738,865 MATERIAL LOADING DEVICE Thomas" E. Howard, Opportunity, Wash. Application May 1, I953,'Serial No. 352,406

3 Claims. c1, 198-7 This invention is a material loading device.

One object of the invention lies in the provision of a material loading device which is particularly adapted for shoveling material and loading intoa chute which empties into a suitable conveyor.

Another object of the invention lies in the provision of a material loading device which has a supporting frame and a loading head pivotally supported on" the frame for vertical tilting movement and horizontal swinging movement.

Another object: of the invention lies in the provision of a material loading device having a series'of spaced shovels supported so as to traverse avertical substantially circular path and controlled to cause the shovels to assume successive digging, conveying, dumping and reversing positions.

Another object of the invention lies in the provis'ion of a material loading device having a headsupported relative to the supportingrframe and carrying a transverselydisposed' horizontal support shat-t: about whicha series of shovels are adapted to rotate; the" s'hovels being jou'rnaled at thefree endof legs radially extending from the shaft, andhavingshovel positioning" meansfixed relative to the shovels for cooperating with a carr'i carried-by thehead to elfect successive positions of the shovels as they traverse a vertical circular path about the support shaft.

Another object of the invention lies in the provision of novel shovel positioning means,- including crank arms secured to the shovel journals and cooperating with a controlling cam.

Another object of the invention lies in the provision of a novel cam having a continuous-outer Wall and-an inner wall composed of spaced segments, thus permitting the shovels to rotate on their journals in a direction opposed to their path traversing movement These and other objects of the invention will become apparent during the course ofthe following description.

In the accompanying drawings forming apart of this specification, and in which like numerals are employedto designate like parts:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a material loading device embodying the present invention;

Figure 2-is aplan view of the device shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal vertical" cross section taken through the head and illustrates thesucce'ssive-positions of the shovels as they traverse the predetermined path;

Figure 4'is a transverse cross section taken through one shovel at its journal; and

Figure 5 is a longitudinal vertical cross s action taken through the king pin pivotally mounting the head on the supporting frame.

Th'isinvention is primarily adapted for use inmuck'ing during mining operations. However, it is not my intention to unnecessarily limitthe scope of'my invention to any particular use, as I desir e tosecure a Letters Patent for the invention in every use of which it is susceptible, Obviously, the device-may be-used for excavating, form- Patent 19. Th'e lowerfnost t plate 22 2,738,865 Patented Mar. 20, 1956 ing tunnels, loading grain, as well as numerous other similar applications. 7

In observing mining operations, I have found that a large part of the workcycle during drifting or tunneling is spent in mucking or removing the broken rock and earth from the tunnel after blasting. In some cases, this is accomplished by manually shoveling the muck into ore cars and in other cases, the mucking is accomplished with a conventional shovel type loa'de'r with which loading is accomplished by three successive steps. Namely (-l') crowding or forcing the sing'le shovel into the rrin'ck pile;

(2) raising the shovel to fill it and to dump its contents intoa car or onto a conveyor; and (3') backing up the loader to-prepare it for crowding" into the muck pile again. The present invention eliminates the unn'e'ce'ssary movements of theloader' and permits the loading operation to be continuous.

One condition which' must be kept in mind in devising a material loading device for use in mines is the limited overhead cleara'nce. In the present invention, 1 have provided a loading device having a series of shovels adapted to rotate about a' horizontal axis. The shovels, however, are joiirnaled forpivotal movement as they traverse their vertical circular path and may be positioned to reduce thevertical clearancerequired to' properly operate and still permit a' continuous circular path move ment of the shovels: Assuming that the normal arc of the fixed shovels is nine feet, by positioningth'e' shovels'as' described hereinafter the vertical clearance required may be reduced to 7.2 feet. Accordingto the present invention, the vertical clearance required is ap roximately per centof' the normal extended shovel" diameter.

The'device-conipri's'ing' thesubject matter of the resent invention is designed't'o travelupon normal gauge mi'ne' rail lllsupported oncr'oss ties 11 by'mea'n's of wheels 121 The machine comprises a frame" 16 which may be of any suitable"strong construction'and the'fr'ame is supplied with an endless beltconveyor 141- The frame also supports a section 15 of receiving chute 1'5'te'r1i1inating at the" cori veyor whereby any material placed in the chute" is deposited upon'the conveyor by which it istransported' and loaded into the ore cars: The supporting frame- 13 is provided with motivating power (not shown) for the purpose of driving the endless-belt conveyor 1"4*an"d also for moving the loading device forwardly and rearwardly. This motivatingpower' may be any of a' ntimber of conimonidevices suchas electric or air moto'rsa'ndis' suitably adapted for manual controll Atits forwardend, thefra'ine 13"is provided with an upwardly angled longitudinally curved pair of transversely' spaced booms16. Theupper free" ends or the booms 16' are united by means of a crossbar 17'weldedor otherwise securely fix'ed 'therebetween. At the forward end of the frame-a'loading head, indicated in general by the numeral 18; is pivotally supported aiid, as'willbeseen in'Figure 2, the loading. headis of slightly greater width tha'nthe framelS. The loading-head is provided'with a pair of spaced'side walls-19'whicl1' may beof'any strong construction and which are here shown to-bethick metal plates. The-walls 19 'are united at points spaced along vertical pivot or king pin 23 and a th'rust' bearing 24' whichencircl'es the pivot-pin: The uppermos't'three plates 22 are secured together and exceptingtlie"top'one*are provided with a-"centralrec'e'ss25*adaptd to Brien-ere the upper portion of the kingpinziai These plates ZZ'havfe their ends-weldedor otherwise seeured 'to' the side" walls overlies the-'plate-17 and is a secured thereto along its rear edge by means of a heavy piano type hinge 26. It will thus be seen that the head 18 is mounted for vertical tilting movement by reason of the hinge 26 and for horizontal swinging movement by reason of the king pin 23 and thrust bearing 24. The head is prevented from accidental displacement from the pin by reason of the fact that the ends of the plates 22 are all secured to the side walls 19 and the lowermost plate 22 is hingedly secured to the plate 19. However, for further securing means, I have provided a stub bolt 27 which passes downwardly through an aperture in the upper plate 22 and is threaded into the upper end of the king pin 23 where the shoulder 28 of the bolt 27 bears upon the end face of the king pin thus securing the bolt 27 and permitting rotation of the upper three plates about the king pin 23.

Disposed transversely of the head, I have provided a horizontal support shaft 29 which has its end portions journaled in bearings 30 carried by the side walls 19 and the end portions extend through the side walls and support sprockets 31 on their outer ends.

Intermediate the side walls 19 the supporting shaft 29 is provided with spaced spiders 32. These spiders are fastened to the shaft as by means of keys 33 and keyways 34. The spiders shown have tri-radiate legs 35' circumferentially spaced equi-distant about the shaft 29 and the legs 35 of the spiders are transversely aligned in spaced pairs.

At the outer free ends of the legs 35 I have provided bearings 36 which preferably are of the pre-lubricated sealed type and these are adapted to receive axially aligned opposed journal pins 37 carried by a series of buckets or shovels 38, the shovels are each provided with a bottom 39 and a lip 40 disposed at an angle of 110 degrees relative to each other. Lip 40 is of substantially stronger construction than the bottom 39 since the lip is used for digging or shoveling the material while the bottom is required only for support and to discharge the material from the mouth of the shovel. Inspection of Figure 2 will show that the mouth 41 is reduced in width relative to the lip 40. The shovels also are supplied with side walls 42 which are arcuate along their upper edge and form the third line of the substantially triangular shovels when viewed in side elevation. It will be seen that the journal pins 37 are shown to be ends of a continuous shaft having a portion cut away to receive the shovel 38, however, this is merely a means of securing the journals 37 to the shovels 38 and other means may be utilized if desired.

The motor M is carried on the head by bolting the motor base to the plate 21 with driving shaft 43 extending transversely of the head and through the side walls 19. The ends of the driving shaft 43 are supplied with fixed sprockets 44 and chains 45 are trained about companion pairs of sprockets 44 and 31. The motor is shown to be an electric motor although not limited thereto. The shaft 29 is, therefore, rotated by means of the motivating power and the shovels are caused to traverse a vertical circular path about the shaft 29. It is necessary that the buckets 38 be selectively positioned to accomplish their required work and if the shovels were rigidly secured in the position necessary for digging, the vertical clearance would necessarily be as great as the arc and a means of exhausting the material from the shovels would be required. According to the present disclosure, however, the journal pins 37 are provided with crank arms 46. These crank arms may be releasably secured to the journal pins in any suitable manner such as by means of splines and suitable cap bolts 48. Inspection of Figure 3 will show that the crank arms are each formed with fingers 49 and 50, which extend radially from the journal pins 37 and diverge from each other approximately 50 degrees with the finger 50 being somewhat shorter than the finger 49.

At their free ends each finger 49 and 50 is provided with a cam wheel 51 which is rotatably supported on an axis in otfset parallel relation to the journal pins 37.

As the shovels traverse the endless path, which is circular when using the mechanism disclosed but which may take other forms if desired, for example, by supporting the journal pins 37 on endless chains, each shovel successively assumes four positions during its 360 degrees rotation. Since the shovels are each identical, the operation of one will be described and it will be understood that each shovel follows the same sequence in its turn. Starting with the lowermost shovel 38, shown in Figure 3, disposed with its bottom diverging upwardly at 6 degrees to the left of vertical and its digging lip 40 downwardly inclined at 15 degrees from horizontal, the rotation of shaft 29 causes the shovel to traverse 31 degrees of its circular path and maintains the angular position. This is the digging position in which the material is loaded into the shovel from the tunnel floor. For the next degrees of the circular path, the shovel traverses its conveying portion of the path and during this travel the shovel progressively changes position from the previously described digging position to a position where the bottom is substantially horizontal, thus the material scooped into the shovel during the digging movement will be maintained in the shovel during the conveying movement. Commencing at the end of the conveying movement or 222 degrees from the start of the digging movement, the shovel moves to a dumping position during the next 31 degrees movement along the path. In the dumping position the bottom of the shovel assumes a downward incline of approximately 45 degrees from horizontal and the mouth of the shovel is disposed over the receiving chute section 15" which is carried by the head. At 45 degrees, the material in the shovel, by gravity, will slide from the shovel into the chute. The shovel, at the end of this 30 degrees movement or 250 degrees from the start, reverses and rotates on its journals 37 in a direction opposed to the rotation of the shaft 29 or path traversing movement, and during the next 107 degrees travel about the path, the position of the shovel reverses and reaches the initial position for digging as described. The path taken by the edge of lip 40 is indicated by a solid line marked A and the path followed by the edge of mouth 41 is indicated by a solid line marked B (Figure 3).

The position of the shovels is controlled by means of a novel cam mechanism 52 which comprises inner and outer cam walls 53 and 54. The outer cam wall 54 is continuous or endless and is provided with a cam stop indicated in general by the numeral 55. T he cam wheel 51 carried by arm 49 bears on the inside face of the outer cam wall 54 during the conveying and dumping positions and at the end of the dumping position. the cam wheel 51 strikes the cam stop 55 and because the spider continues to rotate, the journal pins 37 advance beyond the cam wheel 51 causing the shovel 38 to rotate in the opposite direction from the direction of rotation of shaft 29, shifting the shovel inwardly of the journal pin 37. During this movement, the cam wheel 51 carried by arm 5!) moves downwardly and engages the inside face of the outer cam wall 54 during the last portion of the reversing movement and during the digging movement.

The inner cam wall 53 is composed of spaced segments which are provided to insure proper movement of the cam wheels. For instance, the lowermost segment 53a prevents upward movement or clockwise tilting of the shovel during the digging movement and the upper portion 53b of the inner cam wall 53 prevents counterclockwise rotation of the shovel during the conveying movement. The upper portion also has a tongue 53c folded back in spaced relation upon itself to guide the cam wheel of arm 5 and, together with the inner wall segment 53d, prevents counterclockwise rotation of the shovel insuring that the cam wheel of arm 49 enters the socket 55 of the stop 55 whereby the shovel is reversed, turning in clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 3. It will be noted that the forward edges 40 of the lips 40 are sharpened or serrated as desired to form digging edges.

By swinging the loading head from side to side during the loading movements, the material may be loaded from a width substantially wider than the machine and normally the full width of the mine or drift. This swinging movement is eifected by means of a fluid servomotor 56 which is pivotally secured by ball connections 57, one end to the lever 60 carried by the head and the other to the frame 13 whereby the head is pivotable about the king pin 23.

Vertical tilting movement of the device is effected by a pair of fluid servomotors 58 secured at their rear ends on a common pivot 59' vertically disposed below the king pin 23 and axially aligned therewith and the diverging motors 58 are secured by means of ball joints 59 at opposed sides of the head 18. The cylinders 58 are adapted to operate simultaneously and to vertically shift the head. The head may be moved above or below the floor of the tunnel or grade as desired.

It is obvious, therefore, that during the operation of this loading device, the work of mucking is continuous; that is, while one shovel is digging another is conveying and still another is dumping a previously dug load. Obviously, this will increase the speed of mucking and, therefore, make drifting or tunneling faster and more economical. Larger shovels 38 may be used with this device than with the overhead shovel loaders which are now commonly used and the design of the cam 52 may be varied to accomplish the selected positions at any predetermined point on the path of the shovel movement. It will be noted that one important reason allowing for compactness of the device for its relative shovel size is that for vertical clearance, the shovels are maintained at a substantially horizontal position at the top of the path and are carried within the legs of the spider during the reversing movement at the lower portion of the path immediately preceding the digging movement.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A material loading device comprising a supporting frame; a loading head supported on the frame and adapted for vertical tilting movement and horizontal swinging movement; a transversely disposed support shaft having its ends journaled on the head; spaced tri-radiate spiders fixed on the shaft and rotatable therewith; shovels having transversely extending opposed journals rotatably carried in the free ends of the spiders for effecting movement of the shovels about a vertical circular path; crank arms secured at right angles to said journals and having diverging fingers; cam wheels carried by the free ends of said fingers; and cams on the head and associated with said cam wheels for successively positioning the shovels at predetermined locations along the path.

2. A material loading device comprising a mobile supporting frame; a loading head supported on the frame and adapted for vertical tilting movement and horizontal swinging movement to selective positions; said head having spaced side walls; a transversely disposed powered shaft having its ends journalled on said walls; spaced spiders fixed to the shaft and having radially extending circumferentially spaced legs; shovels pivotally carried by spaced pairs of legs and rotatable about axes parallel with the axis of said support shaft; a crank arm fixed relative to each shovel and having spaced cam engaging means for positioning said shovels as they traverse a vertical circular path about said supporting shaft; a cam carried by the head; said cam having a continuous outer wall including a stop and an inner wall composed of spaced segments whereby the shovels are caused to rotate in their journals in a direction opposed to their path traversing movement.

3. A material loading device comprising a mobile supporting frame, a loading head supported on the frame and adapted for vertical tilting movement and horizontal swinging movement to selected positions; a transversely disposed powered shaft journaled on said head; spaced spiders fixed to the shaft and having radially extending circumferentially spaced legs; shovels pivotally carried by spaced pairs of legs and rotatable about axes parallel with the axis of said support shaft; a crank arm fixed relative to each shovel and having spaced cam engaging means for positioning said shovels as they traverse a vertical circular path about said supporting shaft; a cam carried by the head, said cam having an outer wall including a stop and an inner wall whereby the shovels are caused to rotate in their journals in a direction opposed to their path traversing movement.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,139,690 McDermott May 18, 1915 1,213,640 Hewitt Jan. 23, 1917 1,304,683 Hewitt May 27, 1919 1,506,843 Komarnisky Sept. 2, 1924 1,956,738 Weimer May 1, 1934 2,142,687 Adams Jan. 3, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS 192,099 Germany Oct. 24, 1907 

